Summer '3-quels' continued uninspiring trend

Sorry if you're a believer in the adage, but the third time is not always a charm. Not when it comes to movies.

In fact, according to the laws of cinema, there are few things worse than third servings.

For proof, look no further than this year's uninspired and uninspiring "three-quels": "Spider-Man 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Resident Evil: Extinction," "Rush Hour 3" and "Shrek the Third."

In fact, the only one of the bunch that was really any good was "The Bourne Ultimatum." (And to be fair, "Ocean's 13," while not great, was better than its terrible predecessor, "Ocean's 12.")

Of course, the current three-quels are simply following a precedent established years ago. The "Godfather," "Jaws," "Matrix," "Poltergeist" and "Superman" movie series all hit rock bottom with their third installments.

And that doesn't even include the umpteen slasher flicks that spawned three-quels, such as "Halloween," "Friday the 13th" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

• ALTHOUGH . ... There are some exceptions to the rule, some quality three-quels of the past. The third film in the long-running James Bond series was "Goldfinger" (1965), still the favorite of many fans (although my allegiance remains with the second Bond, 1963's "From Russia With Love."

And the third Harry Potter, 2004's "The Prisoner of Azkaban," was an improvement over the first two films.

Or how about the original "Star Wars" trilogy? "Return of the Jedi" (1983) is arguably the weakest movie, but it's better than the prequels that followed. (The third of those, "Revenge of the Sith," is that trio's best.)

Likewise, of Sam Raimi's gory "Evil Dead" movies, the third was the best, the campy and clever "Army of Darkness" (1993).

Also, there's the odds-versus-evens theory about the "Star Trek" movies, that the even-numbered sequels are the best of the lot. But the third cinematic "Trek," 1984's "The Search for Spock," is certainly not awful.

And if all that isn't enough to convince you, how about this? One of my all-time favorite movies is a three-quel, director Sergio Leone's 1966 Spaghetti Western, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," the third in the "Man With No Name" trilogy.

• FANCY A GOOD WESTERN? Speaking of Leone, one of his best films is "Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968), which is opening the Westerns of the World film series Tuesday.

Sponsored by the American West Center, Westerns of the World will screen feature-length, international Westerns on Tuesday nights throughout October and November at the Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. Broadway (300 South).

Others in the series are "Cananea" (1978), Oct. 23; "Blood on the Land" (1966), Oct. 30; "UTU" (1983), Nov. 6; "Tampopo" (1985), Nov. 13; and "Sholay" (1975), Nov. 20 (www.amwestutah.edu, www.saltlakefilmsociety.org).

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com